Origins of violence against women in Turkey

Pazartesi, 23 Şubat 2015 13:10

There are two definitions for violence against women in the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women: “Violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women,” and “Violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men.” Both definitions are true, but insufficient in the Turkish example.

Clear intervention in judiciary

Pazartesi, 09 Şubat 2015 18:22

The arbitrary actions and operations of the administration have been systematic and widespread over the last two years in Turkey. Though we saw and criticized this arbitrariness in the past, it became truly systematic and widespread after Dec. 17 and 25 because of the atmosphere of panic among the Justice and Development Party (AKP). They believe that if they somehow lose their positions of power in the government, all of their corrupt practices will be seen by the public. They have instead blamed the Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet movement, rather than confront their own actions and operations, which created the filth.

G-word not so easy

Perşembe, 29 Ocak 2015 13:01

He coined the term by combining “genos,” meaning “race, people” in Greek, and “caedere,” meaning “to kill” in Latin. According to Lemkin, the Armenian genocide was a school example of the crime. Today, most scholars on genocide and historians share this idea. It is still a discussion between Turkey and Armenia, including diaspora Armenians. In recent years, we have started to see an emphasized commemoration of the Armenian genocide on April 24. Since 2010, I've been involved in the commemorations. Police protected me and the group of intellectuals with whom I organized the 2010 commemoration in Ankara from ultra-nationalist protesters. It was the first time in my life that had happened. Assassinated Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink said in a 2006 documentary film titled "Screamers": “There are Turks who don't admit that their ancestors committed genocide. If you look at it though, they seem to be nice people. ... So why don't they admit it? Because they think genocide is a bad thing that they would never want to commit, and because they can't believe their ancestors would do such a thing either.”

Call to the Turkish government to resume its open-door policy towards Syrians and to open its border for İraqi refugees

Perşembe, 18 Eylül 2014 23:44

The lack of a near-term solution to the Syrian civil war as well as the establishment of a caliphate by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS – formerly known as ISIS) across parts of Syria and Iraq, reaching to the border to Turkey, continues to put Syrians in desperate need of protection. The temporary protection regime for Syrians, including open gates and non-refoulement that Turkey has enacted, however, has continuously been disregarded by the Turkish state in recent months. Syrians are only granted limited access to the Turkish territory. Thus, we call to the Turkish government to resume its open-border policy towards Syrians and to fulfill its legal obligation that is based on domestic as well as international refugee and human rights laws.

In October 2011, the Turkish government has enacted a temporary protection regime in response to the mass influx of Syrian refugees fleeing from the regional conflict, which assures to provide an open-door policy and protection to all Syrians arriving to the Turkish territory[1]. The non-refoulement principle of the 1951 Refugee Geneva Convention[2] and the new Law on Foreigners and International Protection[3] require Turkish authorities to grant unobstructed admission of Syrians to the Turkish territory. As the numbers of Syrians finding refuge inside Turkey have risen dramatically in 2012, exceeding 1 millionin June 2014[4],

1 350 000 Syrians in Turkey – a Nation in a State of Limbo

Perşembe, 18 Eylül 2014 23:07

When the first influx of Syrians looking for refuge in the neighboring countries of Syria took place in 2011/12, the international community could not anticipate that the Syrian Civil War would cause the biggest humanitarian crisis of our era.[1] Thus, the Government of Turkey (GoT), among other neighboring countries, established in response to the sudden and large numbers of refugees a Temporary Protection (TP) regime that is providing protection and assistance to Syrians in Turkey, including “unlimited stay, protection against forcible returns, and access to reception arrangements where immediate needs are addressed.”[2]Material assistance, however, is mainly only provided inside the camps whereas the majority of Syrians does not receive any assistance as they are residing outside the camps. Non-Camp Syrians are faced with hardship as they do not have access to resettlement programs, are not allowed to work in Turkey, are not given the opportunity to go to free Turkish language courses and are increasingly victims of hate speeches by the Turkish media and the Turkish population.[3] İn summary, they are victims of Turkey’s reluctance to implement integration policies for the Syrian population that would be beneficial for both the refugee as well as the host community, resulting in an insecure future for this group.

Can we trust the Turkish media?

Pazartesi, 01 Eylül 2014 12:13

A few days ago we read in the Taraf daily that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been paying some young people TL 800 to 4,000 monthly to manage Twitter accounts and send fake tweets to manipulate public perception. They do not hesitate to target and insult people, especially those who do not share the AKP's views. According to the analysis in Taraf, all these account holders are overseen by AKP Deputy Chairman Süleyman Soylu. I really wonder what kind of justice and development can be brought to Turkey through the use of these techniques, including manipulating perception, insulting key figures and targeting those who have fallen out of favor with the government. This situation is now becoming an even greater threat to Turkish democracy as the media is under tighter control and journalists are regularly cursed and threatened. Many important figures in the AKP do this without batting an eye. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been known to call media bosses and “request” the dismissal ofspecific journalists who don't conform to his expectations. In my opinion, this atmosphere of pressure will carry on for some time.

Subsistence Rights and Cultural Heritage Rights in the case of Hasankeyf: Human Rights Violations Perpetrated by the Turkish Government

Cuma, 29 Ağustos 2014 15:55

The Ilisu Dam project being carried out in the city of Batman, Turkey is part of a larger regional development project called the GAP Project (Guneydogu Anadolu Projesi/Southeastern Anatolia Project). According to the government’s website, GAP is a “multi-sector and integrated regional development effort approached in the context of sustainable development.”[i] The southeastern region of Turkey has been largely neglected since the formation of the Turkish Republic. It is important to note that the east of Turkey is home to the Kurdish population which comprises close to 20% of Turkey’s population.[ii] The entire project was originally planned in the 1970s for irrigation and hydraulic energy production on the Euphrates and Tigris, but has since transformed into a multi-sector social and economic development project. The goal is to improve the agricultural and industrial potential of the region, therefore increasing regional income and creating new employment opportunities. The Ilisu Dam project is one of 22 dams that are part of the plan. The dam is being built downstream from the historic town of Hasankeyf on the Tigris River and the reservoir that will form following the completion of the dam will completely submerge the town. The project will affect about 108 villages. Of the total affected villages, 6 are located in dam construction sites while the other 102 are located in the reservoir area, Hasankeyf being one of them.[iii] It is because of this reservoir that the people of Hasankeyf are being resettled into government built communities outside of Hasankeyf and away from the reservoir. This resettlement is very important both in terms of subsistence and cultural rights as will be later explained. Though the dam’s construction has legally been suspended by the court, construction continues and the dam is set for completion in 2015.

Totalitarian siege

Çarşamba, 23 Temmuz 2014 17:01

Let me write down some of the recent developments in Turkey:

* A parliamentary commission which was established to investigate corruption allegations leveled at ex-ministers cannot hold sessions because members of the ruling party do not attend meetings. On top of that, the chairperson of the commission, who happened to be a member of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), sent the probe file back to prosecutors for an absurd reason. He said the file does not contain an index and that prosecutors should prepare one. We knew from the very beginning that this commission would not work.

International Justice Day

Perşembe, 17 Temmuz 2014 14:33

Since June 2010, July 17th has been chosen as the anniversary of the International Justice Day, as stated in art. 12 of Kampala Declaration. The daterepresents the most suitable time to remark the importance and primary need of having an appropriate International juridical system in dealing with crimes such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The most significant component of this system is the International Criminal Court (2002), the world's first permanent judicial body competent in bringing perpetrators to justice and providing redress to victims in case of States' unwillingness or inability.

On the other hand, the anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute (1998) shows the hidden side of the Court's work: the ICC, in fact,represents an incentive for all States to fulfill their primary obligations to prevent, investigate and prosecute the crimes, underlining the importance of domestic courts at national and international level, in the construction of an effective system of International Justice. The States, whether parties or not of the Rome Statute, are the first actors able to fulfill the “never-again” promise, issued on the aftermath of World War II.

Marking 2014's International Justice Day, the Human Rights Agenda Association and its President Dr. Gűnal Kurşun want to underline the importance and the centrality of the day in the country. Quoting verbatim the words appeared on the Minister of Foreign Affair Ahmet Davutoğlu's official twitter account in occasion of the commemoration of Srebrenica's massacre (11.07.2014):

“We will never forget forget Srebrenica and we will not let it be forgotten, even if everybody else does”

Refugees under attack

Salı, 24 Haziran 2014 19:22

In December 2011, the court sentenced Cengiz Yıldız, a police officer who was on duty at the time of the incident, to four years and two months in prison for involuntary manslaughter in the death of Festus Okey. The trial process, however, caused several controversies. The police officer who was the suspect remained on active duty, the shirt Okey wore the day of the incident disappeared and the prosecution of local refugee rights organizations that criticized the investigation or demanded to be a part of the hearings. "The police officer pointed the gun at Festus Okey during the interrogation in order to scare [Okey] and to satisfy his own ego and was completely aware of the risk that it could result in killing the detainee," the prosecutor said in a statement.

YET ANOTHER DEATH UNDER DETENTION!

Cuma, 20 Haziran 2014 09:59

Allegations about the death of asylum seeker Litfiullah Tacik should immediately be investigated.17 years old Afghanistan citizen Litfiullah Tacik lost his life at Van State Hospital on 31 May 2014 with the diagnosis of cerebral hemorrhage as a result of violence he had allegedly subject to at the Foreigners Department of the Van Directorate of Security Foreigners.

According to existing information, it was identified that during investigations of 28 cases of death under custody since 2007 today, video camera recordings were not accessed/or not available.

According to the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, if the health of a person deprived of liberty by public authorities was well before he/she was taken under custody, any injury in terms of health generated from the start of detention, the burden of proof rests with the State Authorities to reveal the truth. One of the important tools of the proof is the video camera recordings.